1. Field
This application relates to apparatus and methods for winding coils. More particularly, this application relates to apparatus and methods for winding coils of cable, wire, or filaments that can be dispensed through a payout tube. This application has particular application to the winding of coils of cable, wire, or filaments in a figure-eight pattern, although it is not limited thereto.
2. State of the Art
U.S. Pat. No. 2,634,922 to Taylor describes the winding of flexible wire, cable or filamentary material (hereinafter “wire”, which is to be broadly understood in the specification, abstract and claims) around a mandrel in a figure-eight pattern such that a package of material is obtained having a plurality of layers surrounding a central core space. By rotating the mandrel and by controllably moving a traverse that guides the wire laterally relative to mandrel, the layers of the figure-eight pattern are provided with aligned holes (cumulatively a “pay-out hole”) such that the inner end of the flexible material may be drawn out through the payout hole. When a package of wire is wound in this manner, the wire may be unwound through the payout hole without rotating the package, without imparting a rotation in the wire around its axis (i.e., twisting), and without kinking. This provides a major advantage to the users of the wire. Coils that are wound in this manner and dispense from the inside-out without twists, tangles, snags or overruns are known in the art as REELEX- (a trademark of Reelex Packaging Solutions, Inc.) type coils. REELEX-type coils are wound to form a generally short hollow cylinder with a radial opening formed at one location in the middle of the cylinder. A payout tube may be located in the radial opening and the end of the wire making up the coil may be fed through the payout tube for ease in dispensing the wire.
Over the past fifty-plus years, improvements have been made to the original invention described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,634,922. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,470,026 to Kotzur describes means for controlling the reciprocating movement of the traverse with respect to the rotation of the mandrel in order to wind the wire on the mandrel to form a radial payout hole having a substantially constant diameter. In addition, over the past fifty-plus years, an increasing number of different types of wires with different characteristics are being wound using the systems and methods described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,635,922 and the subsequent improvements. For example, the figure-eight type winding has been used for twisted-pair type cable (e.g., Category 5, Category 6 and the like), drop cable, fiber-optic cable, electrical building wire (THHN), etc. Despite the widespread applicability of the technology, challenges remain in applying the technology effectively.